Mysterious deaths: Ex-soldier links horses' malady in 1976 to his poor health

Duty had been quiet for Scott Baranowski at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground on July 4, 1976, as the nation celebrated its bicentennial. But everything changed, including his health, forever when a helicopter crew saw something disturbing.

"They reported a bunch of dead, wild horses. I was the first one sent to check it out," he said.

On duty at the base motor pool, the then-18-year-old was sent to Orr Springs on the desert base known mostly for its testing of chemical and germ weapons. He found 20 dead horses. Another 30 would die or be found dead nearby in coming days.

"Those horses looked like they died while they were walking and just fell over," he said.

He returned again later as part of work crews sent to investigate the deaths. He watched doctors conduct in-the-field autopsies. He helped bury some horses.

Soon afterward, Baranowski came down with a 104-degree temperature, extreme aches and pains all over, and "I felt like my head was going to explode."

Baranowski says it was the beginning of health problems that have never ended and have disabled him.

He wonders if whatever killed the horses has also been killing him slowly and has contributed to his severe form of arthritis and the lung cancer.

The trouble is, the Army concluded that the horses likely died merely of thirst, even though most were found only a few yards from new troughs full of water from springs that had been covered and piped. The Army says that confused the horses enough to stop them from drinking the water. (Others have disagreed).

The Army says extensive testing ruled out every other suspected cause of death. It insists no chemical or biological agents were tested on Dugway ranges at the time — and that such deadly agent testing in the open air ceased after a 1969 accident there that killed 6,000 sheep in nearby Skull Valley when nerve agent VX floated off the base.

"I don't believe it," said Baranowski, 48, of Scott's Valley, Calif., of the Army's conclusions.

Months ago, he contacted the Deseret Morning News, because of its past investigations of Dugway testing and mishaps, to see if it could help prove or disprove his suspicions.

Army documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, interviews with experts and other evidence give no definitive proof either way. Some bits of evidence suggest something besides thirst killed the horses and hurt Baranowski. Others suggest the opposite or that it is a mystery unlikely to be solved.

Signs from the dead

Any keys to solving the mystery likely are rooted in what Baranowski, Army officials and others discovered 29 years ago while investigating the dead horses.